Description

Aly Almaut Ponce de Leon and his dedicated team at Mother Earth manage to balance the perfect amount of adventure, laughter and discovery in every tour.

A history lesson as you climb the ruins of Ollantaytambo, Pisac or Machu Picchu takes on greater importance coming from a native Peruvian with a local point of view, verses the bias of the typical history book from grade school – the book about conquistadors “discovering” the Americas and Hiram Bingham “discovering” or “rediscovering” Machu Picchu – which Aly will tell you was never lost in the first place.

Aly is the cool teacher. He is the bag of coca leaves, the rock star of Machu Picchu that all the other guides go out of their way to greet with admiration and joy. You feel lucky to be on his tour. Other tourists look longingly at you and some even ask if they can tag along – but they aren’t permitted. The cool teacher is all yours.

Never condescending – if you hate to be overly encouraged or rooted for as you struggle upward and onward, don’t worry. Aly seems to know when to stop on an uphill and offer up something interesting and distracting as your lungs look for oxygen. When he congratulates you with a high-five, there is a twinkle in his eye.

His respect for the environment and the local people is shared by his entire team. As I feasted in the dining tent, I noted the Mother Earth chef hand a hearty bowl of soup to an elderly local lady passing by. Aly encourages the porters he uses on the Inca trail to continue their education, to learn other languages, and helps them achieve this. In turn these young men help children and their communities.

Mother Earth Tours is genuinely responsible.

List of what I did on tour:
-Ollantaytambo
-Pisac
-chicha tasting
-playing the Peruvian game Sapo at a bar
-Machu Picchu
-visit to local Sacred Valley school in Chitapampa and Mother Earth’s volunteer project there
-traditional food, including cuy
-Shaman ritual